Carolyn Richardson says the $8,000 she lost to thieves was capital for the purposes of starting a business, not proceeds from drug sales. Staten Island Advance/Hilton Flores

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The robbers pushed their way into Carolyn Richardson's apartment just after 2 p.m., tied her up, forced her young daughter into a closet, and stole her car keys and roughly $8,000 cash.

That was nearly a year ago, but Ms. Richardson, 37, a mother of three boys and three girls, is still dealing with the fallout.

She was arrested shortly after the robbery and accused of being a drug dealer, and though the charges were dismissed in June, as a grand jury refused to indict her, she's now subject to a city Housing Authority hearing that could end with her losing her apartment in the city-run South Beach Houses.

Ms. Richardson went from victim to suspect on Dec. 20, 2011, when two men forced their way into her 150 Lamport Blvd. apartment, apparently aided by a woman already inside the apartment.

When police investigated the scene, they found pills and ammunition in the apartment, and a gun locked in a safe. After questioning, Ms. Richardson signed a statement saying she stole drugs from her home health aide patients and sold them, and police charged her with felony drug and weapon possession. She has since recanted, saying she was pressured into giving the statement and was told it was her ticket out of detention so she could go home and tend to her daughter.

The little girl, Stephanie, still has nightmares about the ordeal, Ms. Richardson said.

"The police were wrong. The police are not doing anything to help me. I was a victim," Ms. Richardson says. "I have no history. I've never been arrested before in my life. I have no record whatsoever. How do you come to the conclusion that I'm a big-time drug dealer? They did not want to hear nothing I had to say. Nothing."

Ms. Richardson faces a Housing Authority "termination of tenancy" hearing on Nov. 29 -- she's accused of "non-desirability" and "breach of rules and regulations" on account of her arrest.

City officials say that federal Housing and Urban Development rules require an inquiry when a public housing tenant is arrested on drug charges, dismissal notwithstanding.

When asked about the hearing, Housing spokeswoman Sheila Stainback offered the following statement: "When a resident of the New York City Housing Authority is arrested on drug charges, NYCHA is obliged to make sure that the resident's actions are not in violation of his/her lease, which forbids the use of drugs on our premises. NYCHA also must ensure that the resident can continue to contribute to the peace, security and well-being of his/her development and neighbors."

Ms. Richardson maintains she had a large sum of cash on hand because she was saving her tax refunds to buy equipment to start a mobile ultrasound business, and that's why she was targeted. She had withdrawn the money from the bank on the bad advice of her friends, she says, because she thought the money would be taxed otherwise.

And she lives modestly, she insists, pointing to a computer in her house that was obsolete several years ago, and an older-model, low-resolution TV in her living room.

"When they called me to speak in front of the grand jury, I had all my proof of everything. I had my tax return, where I got the money from. My medical records, everything," she says.

According to documents she provided to the Advance, she was treated for cervical and stomach cancer, and has prescriptions for myriad painkillers, including for the 80mg Oxycontin pill she says police found on the floor. She also provided a copy of a notarized letter from one of her home health aide patients, saying that she was picking up a prescription for that patient's boyfriend, who had broken his leg.

The gun, she says, was in a locked safe she inherited from her mother that she never managed to get opened.

And she challenges a police allegation that officers found 100 ammunition rounds in her apartment. Rather, she says, they found a single bullet that her father had in a jewelry box as a keepsake.

The NYPD, responding Tuesday to e-mailed questions about the status of the robbery investigation, and about Ms. Richardson's contention that she was wrongly targeted as a drug suspect, said: "There has been no arrest in the robbery. Please be referred to the D.A.'s office."